The Internet is Unpredictable

Some governments have tried to control it. People are getting rich off it. Music and movies are stolen from it. Taxes can't efficiently be collected from it. No one can stop the growth of it.

I was apart of the Internet from the beginning. I had a service called PRODIGY.
I would sit for hours with Prodigy waiting for a flashing square to alert me that someone wrote me an email. It was very much like Google+ back I'm the day. It was an incredible service, but nobody was there so it took awhile to find another person to write you.

My brother Charles and I have tried to understand how to market yourself and get noticed on the Internet. We have yet to nail down a formula for success. We believe there is no rhyme or reason for how some things become big and others don't.

I do know this. Money breeds money even on the Internet. Take the successful KICKSTARTER project OUYA gaming box. The details don't matter. What matters is that once the project started earning money, more people jumped on for the ride. The faster it grew, the faster it grew. It's a snowball effect. The problem is how to start a snowball.

My favorite thing to hear is when clueless companies say, "we need a website" or "let's do an online promotion. Millions of people will see our product". No one sees you! Your in a universe of millions and yet no one knows you exist. You have to cultivate whatever you do on the internet. Share with people. Post on websites that care about what you do. Scream your full head off until a few people say, "Hey. Look at that guy jumping up and down on the internet. Let's take a peak and see what is has."

When you do have a few eyes on the internet, you better have something worth while to show them, whether it's a product or blog or show. You need to always be on the top of your game.

I tell every one that asks that it will take a full year to get a small audience together for whatever your working on. If you can't put that time and energy into your venture then don't bother starting.

This is just the beginning of this discussion.

I'd love to hear what your thoughts and feelings are about become someone or something on the internet. How do you think people get discovered on the web?

EMBRACING SOCIAL MEDIA

I believe every geek in the world has tried to explain what social media is to someone who just doesn't get it.

What does it take to embrace social media and other new technology, hardware and software?

Most of it has to do with age. I have taught people in my family, church, and business on how to use a computer, laptop, ipod, facebook, twitter, etc. Here is what I have discovered.

Anyone under 50 is open to new technology. That's because those people are the first gamers of our time. Your 40 - 50 year old people were around for pong, pac man, atari, defender, etc. They are the generation that is still playing games and will always play games until they die. So this age range is open to new stuff, just for that reason. I did however find that they are more open to gadgets then to internet media. The get their news from the internet, but they aren't that excited about social media.

Anyone over 50 is going to be your hardest age to convince to use social media. I have many people in my life that just say, "What is Twitter?" or "Why would you want anyone following you?"

That would be okay if the people 50 and above were not running our workplaces. We want our companies to use Yammer, and Twitter, and for the company to have a Facebook page and an intranet. Unfortunately, the CEOs of today are in that 50 and above range. So your task is to convince them how it works and why.

Here is what me and some others have done to jump that hurdle.

My pastor is Pastor Shane Womack of Knott Avenue Christian Church in Anaheim. He is an amazing pastor. He reminds me of the pastor from 7th Heaven. He has a lovely wife and five kids. OUCH!

Anyway, he is from the old school of thought and he is the first to admit it. He doesn't like emails. He writes all his sermons out with pen and paper. The toaster in my kitchen has more technology than the computer in his office.

I remember one day Pastor Shane was trying to scroll through his emails and it wasn't scrolling. Then a HUGE RED VIRUS WARNING popped up on his screen. So he turned the computer off. It was classic! He didn't worry about it and he didn't care. I wish I was more like him in that way, but sooner or later that virus will need to be dealt with at some point. :-)

Pastor Shane allowed us do something that was very cutting edge. He let us film him on the canon XHA1 HD camera, broadcast him live, and post his videos up on http://kacclive.blip.tv.

In the first few days those 5 videos had been seen over 500 times. In the first week it was over 700 times. When I told Pastor Shane, he was very pleased and maybe even a little surprised.

The point I am making is that you can't explain to someone why social media works. You have to show them. If your boss isn't embracing technology, then take the time to set it up and demonstrate it to him/her. All ages of people can understand visual results. The numbers are staggering when you use the internet correctly.

Don't get discouraged. If it's that important to get someone to embrace new technology, then show them. By the way, my mom is on the iMac and my dad has his first iPod. The are both in their 60's. God Bless them.

$10 for a Canon HV20 Camcorder

Do you know how many people will read this blog just because I have titled this blog "$10 for a Canon HV20 Camcorder"?

Do you know how many people would send me $10 for my camera, which I really don't even own?

Do you know how many people would not bother fighting me for a refund?

Do you know how much time and money it would cost people to fight me for a refund?

Do you know how many people are doing this internet scam?

If you don't believe me then go to Nextag.com or Bizrate.com or even Google's Froogle.com and check it out. Type in any electronic device and see for yourself. You will see tons of deals too good to be true. Usually the unbelievable deals are from stores you've never heard of. They are scams and yet people keep sending them money.

I just bought a magnifying lamp for doing watch repairs. I bought it from a company called Grizzly Industrial, Inc. I read some okay reviews on Amazon.com and didn't see anything really bad about them. So I put it on my Kaboodle wish list.

On Christmas morning I open up my new lamp and it was in a million pieces. So I began the painful process of trying to get my money back. They dragged their feet for days and now I am just disputing it with my credit card company.

Now if you go to Amazon.com and do a search for that same lamp you will see a bunch of people complaining about broken product from this company. There is one person who has been trying to get a refund for two weeks. He will probably give up and let Grizzly keep his $50.

Remember, as long as we allow people to get away with internet scams like this, it will continue. So when your shopping the internet, make sure you know the vendor. Make sure you use a credit card. Using your PayPal is not always a protected way of purchase. Make sure you fight for your refund if your not completely satisfied, even if it's $10.

ResellerRatings.com is a website that you can check on retailers to see if they are reliable or not before you buy.

Have you been scammed already on the internet? If so, how?